


Something Lonesome, Something so Wholesome

by nwyrokctiy



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Archie Andrews is a Good Friend, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Rating May Change, Slow Burnish, Tags May Change, betty's a goddess in jugheads eyes, eventual bughead, idk what im doing, may get a little angsty, neighbors! au, starts out nice
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-07
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-06-23 05:29:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15599334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nwyrokctiy/pseuds/nwyrokctiy
Summary: Jughead turned over on his bed and stared at the alarm clock sitting on the table, and groaned to himself when he realized the hour.“What. The actual. Fuck.” he mumbles.or, Jughead is woken up too early by his new neighbor who he thinks might be a goddess? and continues to think she is even after he locks himself out of his apartment.





	Something Lonesome, Something so Wholesome

**Author's Note:**

> hi! my name is delaney and this is my first fic ever. like ever, ever. um so yeah i hope you like it. i'm really proud of this even though i lowkey know that its garbage. the title is from the song "from eden" by hozier. please let me know what you think because honestly i need help!! i also realize that half of my dialogue is the characters just saying thank you so please ignore.

It first began with the hammering.

For at least an hour at 8 on a Saturday morning, there was nothing but incessant hammering that could be heard all over the floor and to be completely honest, Jughead thought the world was ending. Up until that point, 8 am on a Saturday was something of fantasy. It didn’t exist in Jughead’s world, so he was pretty shocked when he realized that he was, indeed, woken up at the ungodly time, and on the weekend no less. 

Jughead turned over on his bed and stared at the alarm clock sitting on the table, and groaned to himself when he realized the hour.

“Who in any sane state would be awake at this hour, hammering in their apartment? Don’t they realize what time it is? Don’t they realize that people are still sleeping?” he grumbled to himself. Laying himself back into the warmth of his sheets, he ultimately decided to just go back to sleep, and prayed that the hammering would stop.

It didn’t.

Actually, it didn’t stop for another 45 minutes and Jughead was about to get up and figure out where the sound was coming from when it eventually did die down. He exhaled in delight and he settled himself once again, willing for sleep to take over his mind and body.

It wasn’t even five minutes later when the drilling began.

“What. The actual. Fuck.” he mumbles. At this point there was no denying that he was furious. He quickly got out of bed, pulling on a shirt and slid his feet into his slippers that looked like dinosaurs (his sister had gotten them for him and to be honest they were really comfortable). Jughead stalked his way to the front door and opened it, wandering his way into the hallway. He stood for a second trying to identify where the sound was coming from until he heard it behind the door from across the hall.

“That’s so weird. That apartment has been vacant since last spring,” he thought to himself. “I guess there’s a new tenant in the building.” The hammering began again. “And I guess they have no common decency when it comes to their neighbors sleeping.”

Jughead hastily made his way to the door of the apartment and didn’t even give a second thought as he banged heavily on the wood. The hammering immediately stopped. He heard some shuffling from inside the apartment as he grew more impatient outside the door before it swung open revealing a blonde goddess standing inside.

Breathtaking. That was the only word that could describe her. Not just because she took Jugheads breath away (she totally did), but because he had never seen anyone like her in his life. The light from the sun cascaded around her in a soft yellow hue, illuminating her features and highlighting the sweat on her brow. Her hair was messily tossed up into a high ponytail and she was wearing a grey tank top that hugged her torso, purple pajama shorts that had white polka dots sprinkled across the bottom, and white socks that stopped at her calf, making her golden legs look miles long. 

She looked at Jughead curiously, probably trying to figure out exactly why someone was standing at her door wearing plaid pajama pants and dinosaurs on their feet. Jughead just stared back, his brain short circuiting until he spotted the hammer in her left hand. All of his anger and frustration began to flood back to him.

“Hi. Can I help you with something?” she asked smiling softly.

“Yeah, actually, I think you can. I was wondering if you had heard anything strange happening this morning,” Jughead stated calmly, “It kind of sounded like hammering.” Her smile dropped. “And then drilling. And then hammering again. You wouldn’t happen to know who was doing that, would you?”

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry! Did I wake you up? I totally didn’t mean to, but I guess I wasn’t really thinking about the time when I started,” she apologized quickly.

“Yeah, it was kind of frustrating waking up this early, completely unwillingly. I’m just requesting that maybe you can take a break for like and hour or two?” Jughead responded.

“Of course. No worries. I’m so sorry about that.” she replied.

“Okay thanks, I really appreciate it. See you around.” he said. She just nodded and closed the door quickly.

Jughead turned around and walked his way back to his apartment door, thinking the entire time that he had never seen someone so effortlessly beautiful in his life. How long has she lived here? How have I never seen her before? Who is she? What’s her name? Her name. He forgot to ask for her name and he never gave her his name either. He slumped against the wall next to his door, pressing his hands over eyes, mumbling about how he was such an idiot when he reached for the handle.

And then he remembered. His keys. They were sitting inside his apartment on his kitchen counter. Along with his phone.

“No. No no no no no no no no,” Jughead whispered to himself. He couldn’t believe this. He must’ve forgotten to grab them in his angry march to the apartment across the hall.  
At that point, Jughead just wanted to cry. He was tired. He was hungry. And he was locked out of his apartment. He truly didn’t know what to do and he sank down in front of his door with his head in his hands. “I can wait for Archie to get home, but I have no idea when that would be,” he spoke to himself, “or I can knock on the girl’s door and ask for help? No, bad idea. I can’t see her twice in one day.”

As if fate would have it, the girl in question stepped out of her apartment and saw Jughead sitting on the floor of the hallway. Her voice filtered in softly, in a hushed questioning tone. 

“Hey, are you okay?”

“Uh, yeah, um not really? I kinda locked myself out of my apartment, along with my phone and my roommate is at his girlfriends place and I don’t really know when he’s gonna be back so I think I’m stuck out here for a little while and I’m hungry and tired and I just wanna relax and sit on something more comfortable than this carpet in the hallway that hasn’t been washed in who knows how long.” He was rambling. He knew he was rambling and when he caught her smiling at him, he just blushed and looked down at his lap.

“Well, you are more than welcome to come hang with me if you want. Until your roommate comes home, of course,” she mused quietly.

“Oh no, I couldn’t do that to you,” he replied hastily, his heart already beating out of his chest.

“Please, it’s the least I can do after I woke you up this morning. I’ll even make pancakes if you want,” she countered with the hint of laughter in her voice. 

He blurted out an answer before he even knew what he was saying, “Well, I can’t say no to pancakes.”

“Great!” she exclaimed, extending a hand to help him off the ground. Jughead took it. “I’m Betty, by the way. I just moved in three days ago.”

“Oh, uh, I’m Jughead and I can already feel you questioning the name. Don’t ask.” He just saw her eyebrow raise at his pleading tone, but didn’t say anything else on the matter. Jughead followed her through the door of her apartment and took a look around before sitting down on a stool in her kitchen. “Anyway, I really appreciate you doing this Betty. I was super close to giving up and just falling asleep in front of my door.”

“Don’t worry about it. Honestly, it’s the least I can do. I really am sorry that I woke you up. Whenever I can’t sleep, I find myself needing to do something with my hands and I saw the bookshelf in the box and I couldn’t help myself,” she replied, grabbing bowls and spoons out of various places within the kitchen. “Do you mind grabbing the eggs from the fridge?” Betty asked pouring flour into a large bowl.  
“Oh, yeah, sure, of course, no problem,” Jughead stumbled out. He got up from the seat he currently occupied at her kitchen counter and clumsily made his way over to the other side of her kitchen. He opened her fridge and quickly grabbed the carton of eggs, placing them in front of her to crack into the metal bowl on the kitchen counter. He took his place once again, behind the counter watching her meticulously pour the batter onto the hot pan in perfect circles. 

While she was waiting to flip the pancakes, she turned around, grabbed a few plates and a bottle of maple syrup before placing them next to the pan. She also placed a phone in front of him. Jughead looked up at her, confused on what he was supposed to do with it. Betty snickered at him before offering, “You can use that to call your roommate if you want. To let him know that you’re locked out.”

“Uh, thanks. Appreciate it.” He grabbed the phone and made his way into her living room, sitting on the grey couch placed in the middle of a fluffy white rug. He glanced around and noticed that half of the wall was painted a light blue, an open can of paint sitting near the base of the television. Jughead looked back down at the phone and tried to remember Archie’s phone number. It had been so long since he had to call from memory, and he made a quick note to himself to memorize it fully after calling the wrong number three times.

After the fourth attempt, Archie finally picked up, uttering a tired, “ ‘Ello?”

“Archie!” Jughead let out a sigh of relief as he realized he finally made contact.

“Jug? What time is it? Why are you awake and why are you calling from an unknown number.” Archie asked, incredibly confused in his newly awakened delirium.

“It’s a long story, but I got locked out of the apartment and I didn’t have my phone so I’m borrowing one from someone across the hall, so can you please get here soon?” Jughead pleaded into the phone.

“Of course, I’ll leave Ronnie’s in like 15 minutes. I should be there in half an hour.” Archie replied.

“That’s totally fine. I’ll be in the apartment across the hall. 318? Just knock on the door when you get here.”

Archie stifled a yawn as he spoke, “It’s no problem, man. And when did someone move in? No one’s lived there since last year.” 

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll tell you later.” Jughead responded.

“Okay, whatever you say. I’ll see you in a few.” he reaffirmed before hanging up the phone.

Jughead made his way back into the kitchen and noticed that Betty had finished making breakfast. She had set the kitchen counter with silverware, napkins, coffee mugs, and a carton of orange juice, before making her way around the corner with two plates stacked with golden pancakes. She was truly a goddess, her grace and kindness intimidating him to say a word. 

After placing the plates in front of the two open seats, Betty sat down and turned to him rather expectantly, inviting him to take his place next to her. Jughead jerked forward and sat down next to her, quietly mumbling a “thank you” before taking a bite of the pancakes.

Now, Jughead had never been a religious person, but he swears that he had never been closer to heaven than when he bit into that pancake. He groaned in satisfaction, barely cutting into the food before shoving the next piece into his mouth. Betty just giggled under her breath before cutting into her own.

“I think this might be the best thing I’ve ever eaten in my entire life and trust me when I say that I have eaten a lot of things in my life,” Jughead sighed and looked at Betty who looked back at him with complete disbelief. “I’m serious. Top ten things I’ve ever eaten in my life.”

Betty shook her head before simply saying, “Thank you. People always told me they were good but never ‘Top ten’. It feels nice to be recognized for my hard work to perfect my recipe.” She glanced at him, then quickly asked, “Were you able to call your roommate?”

“Yep. Thank’s by the way. You’ve done a lot for me this morning and I just wanna say that I really appreciate it. People in the city don’t respond to strangers all that well.” he confessed.

“Good for you that I’m not from the city then,” Betty teased.

Jughead looked at her again, inquiring, “Really? Not from the city? Where are you from then?”

“I’m from a small town upstate. You’ve probably never heard of it and honestly it doesn’t matter that much anyway,” she rushed out. “What about you? Are you from around here?” she added, taking the subject off of her.

He took another bite of his pancake and nodded, “I’ve lived in the city for as long as I can remember.”

“And your roommate? Is he from around here as well?”

“Yeah, Archie and I went to school together. We’ve known each other since we were kids.” he said before meeting her eyes and asking, “Why’d you leave home?”

Her eyes left his as soon as he asked his question, dancing around the room trying to find an answer, eventually giving up and settling back to his. They were the most brilliant shade of green, he thought to himself.

“I...I think that’s a story for another time,” she muttered so low, it was difficult to hear. An uncomfortable silence fell over them for a beat, until there was a sharp knock on the door.

Betty quickly took her plate and Jughead’s plate from in front of him, putting them in the sink. She made her way over to the door of her apartment, opening it while Jughead pulled himself from the chair. As he made his way over, he heard Archie’s loud voice, cautiously asking Betty if Jughead was here. 

Jughead appeared a moment later, relieved that Archie was finally here. He stepped around Betty, turning to her before speaking. “I really appreciate breakfast and letting me hang with you until Archie got here. You really didn’t have to do that.”

She smiled again (she had a beautiful smile), “Don’t thank me. You’re welcome anytime. It was nice to meet you, Jughead. Sorry for waking you up. Maybe I’ll see you around?”

He tried to suppress his grin as he walked out her door, “Sure. I’ll be around. Thanks again.” 

Betty nodded once more, shutting the door, leaving Archie and Jughead in the hallway. Archie turned to Jughead, smirking at him, “You’re telling me what happened.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Let’s just go home okay.” Jughead grumbled. Archie pulled his keys out of his pocket and opened the door. Jughead walked straight to his room, wanting to avoid any more conversation without the necessary sleep he was deprived of earlier. He could hear Archie complaining, but he ignored him, as he settled into his bed, thinking about the beautiful blonde girl who now lived across the hall and just how much he wanted to know more, more, more.

**Author's Note:**

> you can find me on tumblr!!
> 
> nwyrokctiy


End file.
